I want to start listening to my dogs

First, this isn't my dog. I have two, June and Betty. Each have their own personalities and distinct attitudes. Dogs seem to know stuff. They seem to know stuff we humans have no clue of. A friend at work brought her dog to work today. It was a puppy, a cross between a Jack Russell Terrier and an Australian Shepperd. Two dogs, when combined, form an extremely smart animal. Like a dog that could sign checks if they had opposable  thumbs. That kind of smart.

My dogs aren't quite at the doctorate level of a Jack Russell. Betty, a Sheppard/lab/border collie mix is pretty quick and smart with things. Her tastes leaves a little to be desired however. She has a habit of rolling in smelly things. Kind of like going through Macy's perfume section and sampling every perfume on the counter. Only hers are dead things, cat poo, mud, or monkey crap. Perfume for a dog. 

June on the other is, well, no vet really knows what she is. She's not necessarily the 'sharpest knife in the drawer' if you get my meaning. But still, she doesn't roll in stuff her adopted sister does. She's bigger than Betty and two years younger. She's got shoulders of a linebacker, a fishhook tail, short turn-down ears, and paws the size of coffee saucers. However, both animals are aware of things I have no clue of. For example:

They know when I'm sad or happy. If I say anything with the word 'ball' or 'walk' their ears perk up and they march to the front door.  I swear they know English.

 They can hear me coming home from a block away. They can hear the mailman coming from two blocks away, posing in the window-each with their own chew bone-waiting.

On Saturday morning, when most people are using this quality time of day to sleep in from their night of living the party life, studying for that test on Monday, or making the midnight bail hearing and hitting the street by 1 and home in bed by 1:30, Betty and June allow me to sleep in until 5:45, then jump up on the bed and waking me up. Knowing that those extra hours of enjoyment are just wasted time that is too European. I either get up and take them out for ball throwing or suffer 150 pounds of dogs breaking my knees.

Dogs are just forgiving. They love, if given the opportunity, unconditionally. If you yell at them, or punish them, somehow, they come back and still seek your acceptance. Not quite sure I could ever do that--unless I was setting the conditions.

I helped move some material for a friend the other day and his golden retriever came out and trotted up to me to greet me. As if to say, as only a dog would say to a stranger walking up to the front door, "HEYIKNOWYOUILIKEYOUWELCOMETOOURHOUSEPETMEPETMEPETMEDOESYOURBUTTSMELL?"

I want to learn from them. I think we can all learn from them, listen to their language, like when a stranger  is coming down the street, when play is required, when sleep it desired. They love to play and wait for me until I go to bed before they call it a night. They wait on me. Not sure I do that for a lot of people, waiting on them, I mean. I don't play enough. Life is a run from one event to the next and sometimes, I need t listen to my dogs, put my stuff down, and go throw balls for them to retrieve until they are so slobbery wet they are almost impossible to hold.

We can learn a lot from our pooches I think whether they are a Great Dane or a Tea-Cup Yorkie. We can learn how to love in spite of and not because of. Now, if I could learn to switch out my Mennen Skin Bracer with its 'skin tightener and chin chiller' effect with fresh minty scent and try out some of the neighborhood monkey crap.

Maybe Betty's on to something. Someone alert Drakkar.